Trump says he won't let McGahn testify to Congress: 'It's done'

Then-White House counsel Don McGahn and President Donald Trump on June 21, 2018.(Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/epa-EFE)

President Trump said Thursday that he won't allow former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress.

"I don't think I can let him and then tell everybody else you can because especially him because he was the counsel," Trump said during a clip of a 20-minute interview aired on Fox News.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, last week issued a subpoena to McGahn to testify before the committee. Senate Democrats have also indicated that they want McGahn to testify before Congress as Democrats on Capitol Hill seek to follow up on Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential race, an investigation that widened to include an inquiry into possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

Trump's comments come a day after Attorney General William Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the same day Barr refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

According to Mueller's report, the president ordered McGahn to have the special counsel removed in mid-2017. McGahn refused and later told another White House aide that the president asked him to "do crazy s---." McGahn also told investigators that the president had asked him to deny having been asked to fire Mueller.

Barr, in a summary of Mueller's report, said he and the deputy attorney general concluded that Trump's actions did not constitute obstruction of justice. Barr, who on Wednesday testified on Capitol Hill, stood by his summary of the Russia probe report, despite Mueller's recently revealed rebuke of the attorney general's characterization on the issue of obstruction of justice.

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According to The New York Times, President Donald Trump ordered White House lawyer Don McGahn to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last June. Trump pushed back Friday against the report calling it "Fake news." (Jan. 26)
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Trump has hinted that he intended to block aides — both current and former — from testifying before Congress, saying last month that the White House was looking into invoking executive privilege to block such testimony.

In an interview with the Washington Post last month, Trump said the investigations led by Democrats in the House are unnecessary given the results of Mueller's report.

"There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan," Trump told the Post. "I don’t want people testifying to a party, because that is what they’re doing if they do this."

He told the Post that the White House Counsel’s Office was seriously debating asserting executive privilege, which it did not do with information compiled in Mueller's report, to block congressional testimony. Trump said White House lawyers had yet to make a "final, final decision.”

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Attorney General William Barr skipped a House hearing Thursday on special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report, escalating an already acrimonious battle between Democrats and President Donald Trump's Justice Department. (May 2)
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The Post had reported that the White House was specifically looking into asserting privilege to block McGahn’s testimony, as he was one of the star witnesses for Mueller’s investigation and outlined some of the most damning, behind-the-scenes episodes at the White House.

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House Judiciary Committee staffers prepare the hearing room prior to the 9AM official hearing start time. Attorney General William Barr refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee hearing about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and his handling of the investigation. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

The empty House Judiciary Committee hearing room where Attorney General William Barr is scheduled to appear . Barr has said that he does not intend to testify on May 2, 2019 before the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing on "Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice: Report by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election; and Related Matters." Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

Ranking Member of Judiciary Committee Rep. Doug Collins, R-GA, heated comments following remarks by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-NY, (left) with the empty seat of Attorney General William Barr in foreground after he refused to appear. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY